When most dogs leave SDV its a time of celebration. They are going  to do the work they were trained to do and will deepen the relationship with their forever person that we have seen blossom during the transfer process. Its the culmination of  2 years of work and training that many people have been part of from puppy raisers to puppy sitters to volunteers to the advanced trainers. We are thrilled when a dog is matched with their new partner and we see the joy each takes in the other. You can almost see the dog say “oh, of course,  you are the person I was meant for, hurray!” and the recipient is grateful and happy for the independence, fun, and companionship their new service dog will provide.

Disqualifiying a dog is a different matter. Perhaps I hold on too long hoping a dog will get past whatever quirks and problems occur that might disqualify him. I try hard to either fix the behavior or figure out how to place the dog in a situation where the behavior won’t be an issue.  Sometimes though, I have to make the decision to pull a dog from the program. We have funny names like “career changed” or “fabulous flunky” but each one that leaves us this way still represents a tremendous amount of  time,  effort, money, and the most precious thing of all, love.

Obie, our first Great Dane was disqualifed last week. I love this dog not only because he taught me to be a better trainer by using toys instead of treats for his rewards, but because he had a way of looking me in the eye and reaching my soul. All the dogs reach my heart but not all affect me so deeply. Perhaps Obie was never meant to be a service dog but he came so far. He had a great sense of where his big body was in space- even though he liked to sit on laps, he could “get small” and weave between my legs (I am 5′2″), or curl up in a small ball on my bed. He used his keen intelligence to open lever type doors to go  in or out. (We teach the advanced dogs this but Big O learned it on his own.) Taking him out in public was like walking with the Dalai Lama. Everyone had to touch him and he stood quietly for all with amazing grace. He learned to retrieve which is not the most natural thing in the world for a Great Dane, to go up and down stairs very slowly, one step at a time, and to paint, among other things. His downfall was his “reactivity”. In our training center and occasionally out in public, Obie would bark and sometimes lunge at things he was unsure of. In a dog his size, its  an issue.

So Obie has gone back to live with the people who gave him to us at the start. He will spend his days playing chase, napping, and I hope, once in a while in one of those naps, remembering his friends who love him at SDV.